Canvass for a Cause
Encyclopedia
The Canvass for a Cause is a California
-based non-profit organization that focuses on voter persuasion, and public education efforts to build support for the progressive issues. Founded in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8, the California law that eliminated the right of LGBT
persons to marry, Canvass for a Cause volunteers and activists spend time in public places advocating for or against candidates or issues that are central to the progressive movement with an emphasis on LGBT rights. Their model is focused on “one heart, one mind, one person at a time” and most of the organization is devoted to persuading voters, identifying supporters, and recruiting volunteers. Canvass for a Cause has built campaigns and projects on a variety of progressive projects, including LGBT marriage equality, which the organization says is its largest project, as well as women's rights, immigration issues, cannabis law reform, and international relief efforts. The CFAC mission statement is "to recruit and train activists to send out into the community in order to educate about progressive issues, build support for campaigns, and raise funds for the cause." The organization is funded almost entirely by face-to-face fund-raising
efforts of its grassroots organizers.
tools to help fight back on progressive issues. According to their Executive Director Tres Watson, “Canvass For A Cause was founded by a group of pissed-off activists who wanted to make a difference,” Watson said. “One week after Prop. 8 passed, 25,000 people were willing to march down the streets of San Diego to demand their rights back, yet only a fraction of that were willing to spend the time actually volunteering for the campaign.
“We were committed to changing that … starting off as a bootstrap organization who two full time volunteers working out of an old moldy building that was donated space. We had a $20 on a credit, and the passion to make a difference.”
Originally focused exclusively on marriage equality, since their founding Canvass for a Cause has expanded to work on the fight against Don't Ask Don't Tell, No on Question 1 Maine
, Cannabis
law reform, as well as partnering with the American Red Cross
to help with disaster relief in Haiti
. Since its founding Canvass for a Cause has grown from 2 organizers in San Diego, to over 22 activists working out of offices in San Diego on projects across the country.
s and a political action committee
: the Canvass for a Cause Institute, organized as a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on public education projects, PSA's, and social advocacy work; Canvass for a Cause,is organized as a 501(c)(4) organization that focuses on grassroots voter persuasion and education efforts to build public support for important human rights issues, mobilizing grassroots action amongst its members; and the Canvass for a Cause PAC which works directly on progressive legislation and campaigns mobilizing voters to voice support or opposition to various progressive issues and candidates.
effort called Knock for Equality, where they aim at persuading voters to support the issue of LGBT marriage equality, as well as collect strategic information about reasons specific voters don’t support the cause. Canvass for a Cause volunteers are given strategically targeted voter lists, generated from public voter files, they knock on doors in a non-supportive area, and ask if the targeted voter supports marriage equality. Non-supportive voters are then asked a series of questions to identify their core issue, usually children, religion, or the word marriage, and the voters information is recorded on a 1 - 5 scale of support to non-support. The campaign estimates that they have an average of a 22% persuasion rate, meaning nearly one out of every four people who are non-supporters become a supporter by the end of the conversation. Their most successful persuasion effort to date was in November 2010, where they targeted Republican registered Women, over the age of 45 in Coronado Island and achieved a 27% persuasion rate.
in the entire city. In response Canvass for a Cause partnered with the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, the nation’s largest medical cannabis advocacy group to launch the “Stop the Ban” campaign Aimed at protecting medical cannabis patients and preserving safe access to medical cannabis in the city of San Diego.
In January 2011 the San Diego Planning Commission– over testimony of opposition from dozens of attorneys, former law enforcement, land use experts, directors of non-profits, patients, and concerned citizens who argued the ordinance was too restrictive – recommended the ordinance be made even more restrictive before being voted on by city council. In response Canvass for a Cause partnered with the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, the nation’s largest medical cannabis advocacy group to launch the “Stop the Ban” campaign aimed at protecting medical cannabis patients and preserving safe access to medical cannabis in the city of San Diego by connecting the city council to the widespread public support that medical cannabis enjoys in San Diego.;
Canvass for a Cause and ASA organizers built a large coalition of endorsing organizations, educated the public about the upcoming ordinance, undertook a focused media campaign, and mobilized a massive grassroots letter writing effort urging the city council to amend the proposed ordinance using Canvass for a Cause’s proven grassroots organizing models in conjunction with an organized patient outreach and a traditional volunteer based campaign.
The Stop the Ban campaign united LGBT groups, medical cannabis patients’ advocates, physicians groups, drug policy groups, veterans groups, student groups, renters advocates, business groups, and others behind the effort to protect medical cannabis patients in San Diego in what was the largest effort on behalf of medical cannabis in San Diego’s history.
The campaign estimates that Canvass for a Cause and their voter mobilization efforts were responsible for producing 50,000 unlikely voters, resulting in the San Diego vote on this issue garnering 47.5% support an entire percentage point higher than the overall state at 46%.
, Canvass for a Cause partnered with the American Red Cross
in their efforts to respond to the disaster, spearheading a coalition of LGBT groups that worked to fund raise money for the disaster survivors. The unprecedented coalition effort, named Gay Groups Give Back, was unusual in that it was endorsed by nearly every LGBT group working in San Diego, including Canvass for a Cause, Equality California, Courage Campaign
, Empowering Spirits Foundation
, San Diego Equality Campaign, as well as Marriage Equality USA. The coalition recruited and trained volunteers, teaching them how to canvass their community in public spaces for funding on behalf of the Red Cross.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
-based non-profit organization that focuses on voter persuasion, and public education efforts to build support for the progressive issues. Founded in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8, the California law that eliminated the right of LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
persons to marry, Canvass for a Cause volunteers and activists spend time in public places advocating for or against candidates or issues that are central to the progressive movement with an emphasis on LGBT rights. Their model is focused on “one heart, one mind, one person at a time” and most of the organization is devoted to persuading voters, identifying supporters, and recruiting volunteers. Canvass for a Cause has built campaigns and projects on a variety of progressive projects, including LGBT marriage equality, which the organization says is its largest project, as well as women's rights, immigration issues, cannabis law reform, and international relief efforts. The CFAC mission statement is "to recruit and train activists to send out into the community in order to educate about progressive issues, build support for campaigns, and raise funds for the cause." The organization is funded almost entirely by face-to-face fund-raising
Street fundraiser
Street fundraising consists of various ways of asking for donations on behalf of a charity. Those asking for donations may be paid employees of the charity , or they may be volunteers....
efforts of its grassroots organizers.
Background
Canvass for a Cause was founded in 2009 by its Executive Director Tres Watson, along with a group of activists specializing in political organizing, seeking to use grassrootsGrassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
tools to help fight back on progressive issues. According to their Executive Director Tres Watson, “Canvass For A Cause was founded by a group of pissed-off activists who wanted to make a difference,” Watson said. “One week after Prop. 8 passed, 25,000 people were willing to march down the streets of San Diego to demand their rights back, yet only a fraction of that were willing to spend the time actually volunteering for the campaign.
“We were committed to changing that … starting off as a bootstrap organization who two full time volunteers working out of an old moldy building that was donated space. We had a $20 on a credit, and the passion to make a difference.”
Originally focused exclusively on marriage equality, since their founding Canvass for a Cause has expanded to work on the fight against Don't Ask Don't Tell, No on Question 1 Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, Cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
law reform, as well as partnering with the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
to help with disaster relief in Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
. Since its founding Canvass for a Cause has grown from 2 organizers in San Diego, to over 22 activists working out of offices in San Diego on projects across the country.
Structure
Canvass for a Cause consists of two separate non-profit organizationNon-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
s and a political action committee
Political action committee
In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...
: the Canvass for a Cause Institute, organized as a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on public education projects, PSA's, and social advocacy work; Canvass for a Cause,is organized as a 501(c)(4) organization that focuses on grassroots voter persuasion and education efforts to build public support for important human rights issues, mobilizing grassroots action amongst its members; and the Canvass for a Cause PAC which works directly on progressive legislation and campaigns mobilizing voters to voice support or opposition to various progressive issues and candidates.
Leadership
Canvass for a Cause is led by its Executive Director Tres Watson, and a team of leadership directors along with a support team of more than 40 organizers working out of one of their San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco offices. Their work is supported by three boards: The Canvass for a Cause Institute board, which manages the institute’s finances and establishes official policies governing the foundation; and the Canvass for a Cause Board, which manages the organization’s 501c(4), and the Canvass for a Cause PAC board which governs and operates the lobbying wing of the organization.Funding
Canvass for a Cause has been entirely funded by face-to-face fundraising efforts of its team of grassroots organizers, often called canvassers, hence the name Canvass for a Cause. Using techniques pioneered by organizations such as Green Peace in the 1960s, Canvass for a Cause solicits direct public support for their organization while simultaneously educating the public, recruiting volunteers, and building support for various progressive causes. According to Canvass for a Cause the organization is entirely individual donor funded with their average donor giving $30, and they have a monthly giving program where donors help to sustain the organization by giving on a reoccurring basis.LGBT Marriage Equality
The largest and most active campaign within Canvass for a Cause is the work they do advocating for LGBT marriage equality, which is by far the bulk of where the organizations resources are devoted to. Canvass for a Cause has two ongoing projects, Knock for Equality and the Canvass Project, designed to persuade voters, recruit volunteers, and identify supporters. According to statistics on their website, in 2010 Canvass for a Cause staff and volunteers have identified 12,500 voters in support of the issue, and persuaded 2249 voters to support the cause.Knock for Equality
Canvass for a Cause sponsor a once a month door to doorDoor to Door
Door To Door is the sixth studio album by American new wave band The Cars, released in 1987. The album was the band's last studio album before their 1988 disbanding....
effort called Knock for Equality, where they aim at persuading voters to support the issue of LGBT marriage equality, as well as collect strategic information about reasons specific voters don’t support the cause. Canvass for a Cause volunteers are given strategically targeted voter lists, generated from public voter files, they knock on doors in a non-supportive area, and ask if the targeted voter supports marriage equality. Non-supportive voters are then asked a series of questions to identify their core issue, usually children, religion, or the word marriage, and the voters information is recorded on a 1 - 5 scale of support to non-support. The campaign estimates that they have an average of a 22% persuasion rate, meaning nearly one out of every four people who are non-supporters become a supporter by the end of the conversation. Their most successful persuasion effort to date was in November 2010, where they targeted Republican registered Women, over the age of 45 in Coronado Island and achieved a 27% persuasion rate.
Canvass Project
The bulk of the efforts within the organization are devoted to their face-to-face persuasion and recruitment efforts. Canvass for a Cause volunteers and staff focus on busy, publicly accessible areas such as malls, shopping centers, colleges, events, and busy streets. Most of their time is focused on identifying supporters, recruiting volunteers, persuading voters, and fund-raising. Each staff member or volunteer typically engaged at least 100 voter contacts, identifies 15 supporters, recruits 3 volunteers, and persuades one voter per day. To date Canvass for a Cause has engaged in 209,618 face to face voter contacts, logged over 14,817 field hours on the issue of gay marriage.Maryland Marriage Equality Bill
March 2011, a marriage equality bill passed the committee of the Maryland legislature, headed for a floor vote. At the request of the campaign on the ground in Maryland, Canvass for a Cause sent a team of their most trained seasoned activists who flew out to help add resources to the grassroots lobbing effort already underway. The team of activists worked is on the ground in Baltimore, as well as Prince George asking voters to take a moment out of their day and call their legislator voicing support for this bill. Of the successes in the last several days, our team was able to persuade 386 voters to phone their legislature, causing one non-supportive legislator to remark that " all of a sudden I have been receiving 10-1 calls in support of this bill... I might have to rethink my vote."Target Lawsuit
Famously in 2011 Canvass for a Cause voter outreach efforts resulted in the organization being sued by targeted by Target Corp. in an effort to bar them from talking about gay marriage in publicly accessible areas in front of their stores. The lawsuit came after highly publicized negotiations between Lady Gaga, Target, and the gay community where Target stores were seeking to sell her albums. In the wake of the Target v CFAC lawsuit, Lady Gaga made the decision to cancel her contract with Target.Cannabis Law Reform
Canvass for a Cause sister organization, Canvass for a Cause PAC has been active in the fight to end cannabis prohibition, and protects patients in California. Canvass for a Cause has sponsored or partnered with a variety of organizations and inititaives to bring its grassroots organizing model to aid in the fight for Cannabis Law Reform, including the Stop the Ban campaign as well as Proposition 19.Stop the Ban Campaign
In March 2011, the San Diego City Council were set to vote on an ordinance which, if passed, would result in a defacto ban on medical cannabisMedical cannabis
Medical cannabis refers to the use of parts of the herb cannabis as a physician-recommended form of medicine or herbal therapy, or to synthetic forms of specific cannabinoids such as THC as a physician-recommended form of medicine...
in the entire city. In response Canvass for a Cause partnered with the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, the nation’s largest medical cannabis advocacy group to launch the “Stop the Ban” campaign Aimed at protecting medical cannabis patients and preserving safe access to medical cannabis in the city of San Diego.
Background
In January 2011 the San Diego Planning Commission– over testimony of opposition from dozens of attorneys, former law enforcement, land use experts, directors of non-profits, patients, and concerned citizens who argued the ordinance was too restrictive – recommended the ordinance be made even more restrictive before being voted on by city council. In response Canvass for a Cause partnered with the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, the nation’s largest medical cannabis advocacy group to launch the “Stop the Ban” campaign aimed at protecting medical cannabis patients and preserving safe access to medical cannabis in the city of San Diego by connecting the city council to the widespread public support that medical cannabis enjoys in San Diego.;
Campaign to amend and approve
Canvass for a Cause and ASA organizers built a large coalition of endorsing organizations, educated the public about the upcoming ordinance, undertook a focused media campaign, and mobilized a massive grassroots letter writing effort urging the city council to amend the proposed ordinance using Canvass for a Cause’s proven grassroots organizing models in conjunction with an organized patient outreach and a traditional volunteer based campaign.
Coalition Partners
The Stop the Ban campaign united LGBT groups, medical cannabis patients’ advocates, physicians groups, drug policy groups, veterans groups, student groups, renters advocates, business groups, and others behind the effort to protect medical cannabis patients in San Diego in what was the largest effort on behalf of medical cannabis in San Diego’s history.
Proposition 19
In 2010 Canvass for a Cause announced they will be collaborating with groups seeking to decriminalize Cannabis in California, an initiative scheduled to go before voters in November 2010. During the 2010 election, Canvass for a Cause worked closely with the Proposition 19 campaign in an effort to legalize cannabis in the State of California. In preparation for the upcoming election, Canvass for a Cause sent college campus organizers to colleges all over Southern California to help drive the youth vote to supplement the progressive vote.The campaign estimates that Canvass for a Cause and their voter mobilization efforts were responsible for producing 50,000 unlikely voters, resulting in the San Diego vote on this issue garnering 47.5% support an entire percentage point higher than the overall state at 46%.
International Relief
After the 2010 earthquake in HaitiHaiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Canvass for a Cause partnered with the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
in their efforts to respond to the disaster, spearheading a coalition of LGBT groups that worked to fund raise money for the disaster survivors. The unprecedented coalition effort, named Gay Groups Give Back, was unusual in that it was endorsed by nearly every LGBT group working in San Diego, including Canvass for a Cause, Equality California, Courage Campaign
Courage Campaign
The Courage Campaign is a California-based human rights campaign and progressive advocacy organization with more than 700,000 followers, working on a variety of causes, including the repeal of Proposition 8, California budget reforms,, and ballot procedures...
, Empowering Spirits Foundation
Empowering Spirits Foundation
The Empowering Spirits Foundation , Inc. is a national non-profit, non-partisan lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization in the United States...
, San Diego Equality Campaign, as well as Marriage Equality USA. The coalition recruited and trained volunteers, teaching them how to canvass their community in public spaces for funding on behalf of the Red Cross.
See also
- LGBT rights in the United States
- List of LGBT rights organizations
- Gay communityGay communityThe gay community, or LGBT community, is a loosely defined grouping of LGBT and LGBT-supportive people, organizations and subcultures, united by a common culture and civil rights movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality...
External links
- Canvass for a Cause — official website
- http://www.sdgln.com/news/2011/03/08/who-canvass-cause - SDGLN Profile
- http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-8825-wait-a-minute-mr-postman.html - Stop the Ban News Piece